Gray, James. The Penciled Frown (New York: Scribner's, 1925) 297 p.

A young drama critic in a midwestern city accidentally becomes engaged to one of the local librarians. Her name is Birdie Yost and indeed she has an “apparently irrepressible habit of chirping and hopping about.” (p. 64-65). She often bobs her head with “ineffectual brightness.” (p. 156). Birdie is very interested in poetry and has written many pages of doggerel which make the young writer cringe when she insists on reading it to him. Fortunately he manages to get her to call off the engagement.